


Super Villainous

by Luci_Cunt



Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: !!, ?? - Freeform, Casual au?, Daredevil AU, F/F, M/M, Yeah Baby, almost a, but they're superheroes so it's the farthest thing from casual, entirely too much of the author projecting onto nora!, if you squint and also are upside down?, lawyer AU, slowburn, superhero au, technically also–, villain AU, what do you call it when Henry isn't a prince and Alex isn't the first son?, xDD - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-24 15:42:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21680365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luci_Cunt/pseuds/Luci_Cunt
Summary: Alex Claremont-Diaz AKA the Comet protects his city in all his spandex-clad glory by night, and works with his best friend and ex as a defense attorney during the day. When he fucks up and actually kills his main villain, he decides to cover it up and instead of being a rational person steals his villains identity and pretends to be both hero and villain.Henry on the other hand just wants a job helping people, and also may have some secrets of his own....Full disclosure: I know next to nothing about lawyering, so if you do and I'm making a complete mockery, lemme know and help me fix it XD <3
Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor, June Claremont-Diaz/Nora Holleran
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	1. The Death of Steel

**Author's Note:**

> gang this is my first RWRB fic!!!! lmao so far it's all been AFtG 
> 
> idk what this is, I thought of it while listening to [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxf06itUFuE) song and was like "ooooh I just really want to write Nora" so boom. Also there's a serious lack of genre fics in this fandom?? So I'm fixing that XD. Idk if I'll continue this regularly? My track record with that is a little shifty and finals are coming up, but this might be a long boy XD. 
> 
> I love feedback! Also I'll probably put some trigger warnings at the beginning and if I forget something (which, knowing me, WILL happen) just send me a message! I'm [luci-cunt](https://luci-cunt.tumblr.com/) on tumblr and I usually answer. Also if you wanna scream about Daredevil which heavily inspired the lawyer-y side of things, or just about RWRB hit me up XD.
> 
> Enjoy!!!! <333
> 
> [TW: death/ some violence/ mentions of domestic abuse (discussion of a case VERY briefly)/ excessive mentions of spandex]

The Comet–beloved savior of all of New York–was used to fighting people. Especially the self-named “Steel.” If you were to label them, the Comet would be New York’s own superhero, and Steel would be his main supervillain. Both of them fought regularly and they were each other’s perfect opposites. 

Steel, with unbreakable skin, a crude sense of humor and generally bleak morals vs the Comet–possessing super strength, undeniable southern charm, and a generally sparkling reputation. Steel would cause trouble (usually trying to blow up some bridge, he might’ve had a grudge against them. Or just against working traffic, who’s to say really) and the Comet would rush in, spandex gleaming in the sun and cape fluttering in the breeze. 

They would fight, the Comet would make some witty comments, Steel would growl and threaten more violence, and then barely escape with some underhanded trick (once that had been literally taking a puppy hostage, if you can believe). 

The thing was, even though they commonly fought, the Comet had never managed to land a hit on Steel. Steel was quick and the Comet only threw punches with all his weight behind him (he was working on it) which meant usually he’d hit the concrete beside Steel, or the floor above his head, or–well, you get it. 

This is important because Steel was not invincible, in fact, he was far from it. The only strong part of him was the very top layer of skin–which meant he was basically an indestructible flesh sack filled with glass.

Now, if you can imagine, say, a geode in a sock. When you hit said socked geode with a hammer, the geode breaks, but the sock stays mostly intact and keeps all the broken bits safely trapped inside. 

This is what happened to Steel the very first time the Comet managed to land a punch. 

Bones crunched, guts squished, and just about everything inside Steel shattered. He was thrown into a wall by the sheer force of the punch, where he crumpled and collapsed to the ground, wheezed a final, shuddering breath, and then promptly died. 

Now, for the Comet this moment was entirely unexpected. He’d never killed anyone before–nor had he expected Steel to go out so easily and, thinking it to be a trick, carefully walked forward and poked the man with his toe. 

Steel didn’t move. 

“Oh _fuck,_ ” the Comet managed, and then immediately threw up. 

____

And now our story turns to one Alex Claremont-Diaz. 

Alex was the dictionary definition of a golden boy–literally. His best friend (as well as ex-girlfriend), Nora, was excellent with computers and constantly hacked Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary. 

Alex was a Harvard graduate, the son of two successful and wildly popular politicians, and the brother of one of the best reporters in the country. He had dimples, white teeth, a charming southern accent and he worked for his own law firm as a defense attorney for unfortunate souls. 

He worked there with Nora, who compiled evidence and information and also bossed him around. They were a very successful partnership and both worked very hard despite their somewhat laid back personalities. 

Today though, Alex was relying on said laid back personality, because he was late. 

“ _Please stand clear of the closing doors._ ” Alex’s eyes widened as he heard the robotic voice from the stairs. He rushed down but the subway train was already speeding away. 

“ _Christ,_ ” Alex cursed, looking up at the screen showing the other train’s timings. He knew there wasn’t another train for at least thirty minutes but it never hurt to check. Unfortunately it hadn’t miraculously changed. He sighed and pulled his phone out, walking up back up the stairs and scrolling through his contacts list until he landed on Nora’s name–"The Anti-Christ" in his phone. He put the phone to his ear as he came out of the subway station and it rang twice before she picked up. 

“No,” she said, and then hung up. He rolled his eyes and called her back. 

“You don’t even know what I was going to ask,” he said when she picked up again. 

“You can’t use company funds to buy an Uber,” she said. 

“What about a Lyft?” 

“Nope.”

“It’s _my_ company,” Alex grumbled, already making his way down the narrow streets of New York. It was early enough in the morning that the sidewalks weren’t packed, and he was able to make good progress. There was a bus stop a few blocks down and if he hurried he could catch that. It would drop him a street down from the firm but it was better than walking the whole way. 

“And you forfeited that when you put me in charge of financing, AKA you made the only smart decision since we’ve known each other,” Nora said flatly. 

“We’ve known each other our whole lives.”

“Bingo, now hurry your sweet little ass in, Newbie’s here,” she said. Alex blinked. 

“Newbie? Wait, like the Brit? I thought he was coming in Friday?” Alex said, pausing his speed walking. 

“I moved him up, we’ve got a client meeting on Friday and I thought it would be better to show him the ropes and then toss him to the sharks,” she explained, “I texted you–or wait, that might have been June.”

Alex pursed his lips. “How do you confuse your coworker and your girlfriend?” 

“Well I was ranting about the accent and you’re a prude,” she said, then–slightly muffled, “by the way your accent is hot.”

“Thanks,” Alex said, starting to walk again. 

“No not you, I was talking to Newbie, his is sexier,” Nora said. 

Alex groaned. “He’s standing there? _Fuck,_ Nora I’m supposed to be his boss! And your boss!" he hesitated, "Kind of...” 

“Get over it, the intimidation factor will wear off the second he sees you without a tie,” Nora said, he could imagine her flapping her hand dismissively.

“I _have_ a–” Alex ran his hand over where the tie was supposed to be and then groaned again when he realized he’d forgotten it. 

“Finish that, I dare you, and then spend your own money to buy a new tie to prove me wrong,” Nora said. 

“I’ll fire you,” Alex said as he came up on the bus stop just as the bus pulled up. He pinched the phone between his shoulder and ear so he could free his hands to find his bus pass. The driver glared at him as he fumbled for it. 

“Great, June and I were thinking about a vacation. How nice do you think Hawaii is this time of year?” she said. Alex rolled his eyes, swiping the pass and then finding an empty spot near the back. 

“Take June to Hawaii and you’ll never hear the end of it, she hates sand,” Alex said, grabbing the phone again. 

“Shit you’re right–ok, I forgive you,” Nora said, Alex opened his mouth but Nora cut him off, “–for _one_ thing, you get to pick–being late or not wearing a tie to Newbie’s first day?”

Alex thought for a moment, “being late,” he decided, she hummed her approval. 

“Ok, hurry up,” she said. 

“See you soon,” Alex said, and then hung up. He still had about ten minutes of bus ride so he scrolled through his phone, checking his messages and ignoring his overcrowded email–he’d deal with it later. He opened a recent text from June and sighed.

  
**Lesser Claremont-Diaz**  
Nov 9, 2019, 8:49 AM  


Lesser Claremont-Diaz  
Nora’s going to forget to tell you but the Newbie’s showing up early

  
she definitely forgot  


Lesser Claremont-Diaz  
Tell Nora I said hi when you get off the bus

  
tell her hi yourself  
also how do you know i’m on the bus??  


Lesser Claremont-Diaz  
I’m psychic  
You never text about anything except work if you’re actually there

  
i’m gonna tell nora to plan your vacation in minnesota  


Lesser Claremont-Diaz  
🖕

Alex shut off his phone with a laugh and got off on his stop, hurrying down the street and cutting through the alley behind the Chinese food place Nora’s obsessed with. The alley smelled like hot garbage and cigarettes despite the cold weather and it was slick for some reason. Alex wrinkled his nose and walked faster, coming out onto the street across from his and Nora’s firm. 

It was technically an old radio store, which meant there was a random soundproof room and a glass display case in the middle of the main room that Nora had turned into a fish tank. Though, by the time she and Alex had actually finished the tank they realized the glue they’d used to seal it was toxic, so now there was just a fishless, giant fish tank in the middle of their firm. They hadn’t even bothered to take out the filter, the bubbling was nice white noise. 

Alex pushed open the door, smiling slightly at the CLAREMONT-DIAZ AND HOLLERAN letters printed on the door. The fuzzy feeling of pride at the lettering was immediately dashed however as he heard Nora’s “Well, well, well, look who decided to show up.”

“I didn’t hear my alarm,” Alex grumbled, dumping his stuff down on the front desk. It was supposed to be for a secretary, which neither Alex or Nora had. Alex supposed Nora might count as a secretary, but he was pretty sure if he told her that she would drown him in their not-fish tank. 

The firm was set up with three rooms–four if you counted the closet of a bathroom as a room (Alex didn’t). The main room, and then three doors branching off, one for both offices and one for the bathroom. The main room had the not-fish tank and the front desk, it had coarse, dark blue carpet and eggshell colored walls that reminded Alex of a hospital. Nora had tried to fix that with some colorful giant beanbags and the neon pebbles in the fishtank but they had to keep dragging the beanbags into one of the offices so they would look more professional. The room wasn’t that big, probably about the size of a small-ish living room and it had a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows with plastic blinds that Nora and Alex always fought over. 

The first thing he did after dropping his stuff was go over and open the blinds, light flooded in and Nora groaned, shielding her eyes against the ‘harsh’ New York sunshine. 

“Vampire,” he said, rolling his eyes and turning to face her. She was sitting in one of the beanbags–the lime green one–laptop in her lap and massive headphones around her neck. Her phone sat next to her, a video playing on it that sounded like it was probably Love Island, and Alex could hear music playing from somewhere. 

She was wearing sweatpants and an old hoodie that had equal chance of being stolen from either June or Alex, and her short hair was tied back with a scrunchie. Alex called this “non-client attire,” it also meant that if they had a walk-in Nora would probably go hide in her office and leave Alex to deal with them. 

_There better not be any walk-ins._

She nodded her head over to her right, where a man was looking into the not-fish tank, probably looking for fish. 

Alex recognized him, he and Nora had met with him before–Henry–for a job interview. Alex had hated him at first, the man had a posh accent that didn’t help his snooty attitude, but he had also seemed surprisingly passionate about helping people, which was exactly what Nora and Alex were looking for. 

He was wearing a nice suit, dark grey with an all blue tie. He had blond hair styled in a way that made it look like he hadn’t put any thought into it and his face was about the same. He had a nice jaw, broad shoulders, and intense eyes, but he was quick to a polite facade which pissed off Alex for no apparent reason (according to both Nora and June. And his mother and father. And himself if he thought about it).

“Henry, good to see you again,” Alex said, flashing a quick smile and holding out a hand to the man. Henry took it, offering his own polite smile. 

“Pleasure to be here,” he said. 

“Hopefully Nora hasn’t been too much,” Alex said, and Henry blinked at him like he was waiting for Alex to finish his sentence. He recovered quickly though. 

“Oh, no, not at all, we were just talking about–er…” he trailed off, eyes flicking to the ceiling as he tried to come up with the right words. 

“How America is so horny we directly caused Hentai,” Nora said bluntly and without even looking up from her laptop. Henry’s ears went pink and he nodded. 

“It’s been… _enlightening?_ If a bit unconventional,” his voice sounded constricted and Alex bit the inside of his cheek to keep a straight face.

“Did she talk about all the fun stuff and leave me with the actual job training?” Alex asked, and for a second he swore he saw a muscle twitch in Henry’s cheek like he was fighting off a smile. 

“Oh, one hundred percent,” Nora said enthusiastically. 

“Great, well, we should get started then.”

__________

Right after throwing up next to a dead body the Comet realized he probably wasn’t going to be able to deal with this on his own. He tried to come up with a solution, but his mind was blank and every time he looked at the limp body of his ex-nemesis he felt a pang of panic through his gut. 

_Superheroes don’t kill people._

The Comet looked around, trying to figure out what to do, but all he saw was the empty and abandoned parking garage that he’d been fighting in. It didn’t look like anyone had been there for at least a few years. He bet it had something to do with the abundance of missing support pillars. 

For a moment he wondered if he should just topple the building on top of the body, and then leave, but then he decided that was a stupid idea. Now the Comet was pacing, wracking his mind for some kind of solution. 

He knew that if it were to come out that he’d managed to actually kill his Villain no one would be happy with him. People were already pissed about property damage, and the only thing that had been keeping the police and larger government entities off his back was the fact that he’d only ever been violent towards actual criminals and he’d never killed anyone.

Not that Steel didn’t deserve to die to some extent, the man was a violent asshole who’d escaped jail running from domestic abuse charges and then started blowing up bridges and killing people because he had nothing better to do and unbreakable skin. 

(The Comet didn’t know about the jail time or the charges since he didn’t know his identity, however).

After about ten minutes of the Comet going back and forth he stopped and groaned, pointedly not looking at the dead body. 

Then, he got a brilliant idea. He looked around once more, deciding it would probably be fine if he left the body here for a moment, and then took off. 

________

Luckily for Alex Henry was a quick learner. Alex made sure to fill him in on all the details–what his job expectations were, how he'd be working, and that he’d be sharing the office with Alex because Nora “needed her space,”–while Nora focused on the more specific details–you have to flush the toilet twice or else it doesn’t work, one of the rooms is soundproof and best to have sex, there’s no fish in the fish tank, etc. 

Henry took it all in stride, with only a few stumbles when Alex shrieked about Nora not being allowed to have sex with his sister in _his_ office. Other than that though the whole initiation only took about half an hour, which Alex was glad for, because he had actual work to be doing. 

“These,” Alex said, handing Henry a stack of files, “are our prospective cases, Nora and I usually look through them each to double check ourselves,” he explained. Henry nodded and looked at the relatively small stack of cases in his hands. 

“We’re also really bad at turning people down,” Nora said. 

“But we haven’t lost a case yet,” Alex said, smiling, and keeping the fact that they'd only actually argued two cases to himself. Henry looked between them. 

“How do you know to turn down a case?” Henry asked, and Alex reached into the garbage can next to his desk and pulled out a file. He opened it and pointed to a highlighted section of the letter the possible client had sent. Henry read it out loud, “‘She’s a liar and stuck me in here because I missed an anniversary, but I didn’t do anything.’” he frowned. “I’m not sure I understand?” 

Alex flipped through the folder and then presented the rest of the information–the Nora gathered stuff, including an autopsy report showing that the man’s girlfriend had sustained injuries from a brutal beating along with a signed statement saying the man had been responsible. Henry’s jaw clenched. 

“If we can prove they’re not innocent before we even get to court, in goes in the special inbox,” Nora said, Alex tossed the file back into the ‘special inbox’ AKA the trash can.

“Right, good,” Henry said, nodding. 

Alex smiled, “now, I’d like to proudly present you with your very first task as an official employee of the Claremont-Diaz and Holleran office,” he said dramatically. Henry’s cheek twitched again. “Figure out who our next client will be. You get three, I get three,” Alex said, taking three of the files off the top of the stack. He held out a hand to Nora, who fished around under her beanbag until she pulled out a packet of paper that she put in Alex’s hand, Alex then added it to Henry’s stack. “And review tomorrows client, you and I will be meeting with him while Nora final vets our client decisions, if you need any research done let her know, unless you feel like doing it yourself, in which case–” Alex bumped Henry’s shoulder with his fist and winked, “good for you.” 

“Write what you want me to research on a sticky note and put it on my laptop and I’ll email you my results,” Nora said. “Alex where’s our gum?” 

Alex made a face, “how should I know? You got pumpkin spice last time and I refused to go near it.” 

“What exactly do you mean by… research?” Henry cut in. Nora finally looked up from her laptop and grinned. 

“Whatever you want babe. Obviously most of it won’t be admissible in court if I steal it, but if you want proof that somebody isn’t shit I can get it for you, it’s up to you guys to figure out how to make it legal in court though,” she said. Henry nodded and smiled. 

“You two are quite possibly the strangest people I’ve ever worked with,” he said. Alex smiled. 

“Thanks Blondie, nice meeting you too.”

_______

Alex, Nora, and Henry all didn’t end up leaving the office until it was dark. Henry and Alex had traded cases with their notes so they could check each other and Alex hadn’t wanted to leave the project half finished. 

Nora came in sometime after nine with coffees and Alex was glad for the much needed break. At least Henry’s notes were neat. He had perfect looking cursive handwriting and all his notes were written extremely professionally. It was kind of boring to read, but Alex was just glad he wasn’t having to look over all the cases himself. 

They ended up only tossing two of the cases, Alex gave the rest of them to Nora and then headed home. He wanted nothing more than to collapse into bed and sleep, but unfortunately he had other plans. 

Plans that involved an annoying amount of basically spandex. 

He changed into his suit–made tight for tactical purposes, and the cape was actually a parachute–and then went out for a quick patrol. Unfortunately the Comet ran right into Steel planting explosives on the Manhattan Bridge, which had turned into a fight, which had ended in Steel dead and Alex–the Comet–panicking.

_______

Alex burst through the window of Nora’s apartment and rolled to a stop on her floor. He looked around and almost jumped when he spotted Nora watching him from her couch. She blinked at him from where she was curled up under a blanket. 

“ _What the fuck,_ ” she whispered and Alex jumped up. 

“Nora I need your help.”


	2. The Birth of Steel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora and June help Alex cover up a murder, and Alex and Henry bond over Philip being a dumbass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [TW: very minor/ vague mentions of sexual assault (case talk) also there's a dead body]

“Nora I need your help.”

“ _What. The. Fuck._ ” Nora said, and Alex looked around. 

“Is anyone else here?” 

“Yeah–?”

“Hey what the hell was that cra–” suddenly June was standing in the kitchen doorway, eyes wide on where Alex – the Comet – was standing. She dropped the bowl of popcorn she’d been holding and it crashed to the floor, popcorn everywhere. 

“ _Shit,_ ” Alex cursed. June lunged for the kitchen and came back with a knife, which she brandished at Alex.

“Leave,” she said, and Alex put his hands up fast.

“Whoa! whoa! Just– wait ok, let me explain!” he said, backing up fast until he ran into a lamp. He struggled to straighten it and then managed to snap the metal stand. “ _Dios, madre de–_ ” 

“ _Alex??_ ” Nora and June said at the same time, and Alex spun around, holding out the snapped lamp to protect himself from June’s knife. Luckily she wasn’t moving, just standing there holding it out and looking threatening. Alex realized he was an idiot and quickly pulled off his mask. 

“What the fuck,” Nora said, again, while June stared at him with her jaw on the floor. 

“Surprise?” he said softly, with a half hearted smile. June picked up her jaw and suddenly looked downright murderous. 

“You better have a good fucking explanation for this because I swear to god Alex–”

“I do! Or… ah, mostly? Listen I just– _fuck–_ I need Nora’s help and I didn’t want this to–”

“You didn’t want your big reveal to be crashing through my apartment window and scaring us half to death and royally pissing me off?” June said, she crossed her arms over her chest and popped out her hip– she was still holding the knife. Alex gulped. 

“Yeah,” he said. 

“You know, when I imagined your coming out– this isn’t anywhere near what I was thinking,” Nora said, she got up and sat on the floor where the popcorn had fallen, picking up a handful and stuffing it in her mouth. 

“I just– wait, _imagined?_ ”

“Stay on track Alex,” June prompted and Alex made an aborted hand-flapping motion. Then he took a breath and composed himself. 

“So, I have, been– uh… well I have a hobby,” he started slowly, Nora and June watched him. He swallowed. “Also above average strength…” he added. 

“This is taking too long, so you’re Wonderboy and you are revealing yourself only to us now because you hate us,” Nora summed up around a mouthful of popcorn. Alex glared. 

“I don’t hate you guys,” he said, offended. 

“Then why didn’t you let us in on your ‘hobby.’”

“Because it’s smart! Secret identity Nora! That means it’s a secret!”

“I could have been your guy-in-a-chair.”

Alex threw his hands in the air in exasperation, “I’m not Ant-man.”

June facepalmed, “that’s a Spiderman refrence you dumbass–also fuck you for keeping this a secret.” 

“Ok well, that’s not the point though because I have bigger issues right now–” Alex tried to start, but Nora narrowed her eyes on him.

“What’s Steel’s superpower? Do you know any other superheroes? When we had sex were you holding back like, Twilight style?– if your answer is yes fuck you– do you know that guy Shadow? Do the cops like you? Are you actually flying when you fly or is it like–”

“Stop– stop, _please,_ ” Alex said, his head spinning. 

“Are you ok?” June asked, “You don’t really get to be not ok right now by the way– I’m still pissed,” she added. Alex let out a strangled laugh. 

“I fucked up,” He managed. June and Nora shared a look. 

“How so?”

___________

“Oh my god,” June said, slack jawed. 

“Can’t believe my ex is a superhero and we rode the bus here,” Nora said, significantly less slack jawed.

“You _killed_ him??” June said, looking between Steel’s body and Alex – who had changed into some street clothes. 

“Good riddance honestly,” Nora said, and the siblings ignored her. 

“I didn’t mean to! I thought he was unbreakable all the way through! You know, that’s the whole– I don’t know," Alex waved his hands around " _thing._ I’m super strong, he’s got invincible skin, you wrote about it you should know!” Alex said, June jabbed a finger at him. 

“Don’t try to put this on me, I’m not the one who killed his nemesis!” she hissed, and then groaned, “ _and I won’t even be able to write about this, christ– fuck_ you Alex,” she added.

“Yeah and this would’ve been _big,_ ” Nora said sympathetically from where he was leaning over the body and examining it. 

“Nora don’t, what about like– DNA? Evidence?” Alex tried– his only reference point was Criminal Minds. Nora gave him a flat look and pointed to the puddle of vomit next to the dead body. 

“I think it’s a little late for that hot-shot,” she deadpanned. 

“There’s no way you can get away with this,” June said, and Alex collapsed into a crouch, hugging his knees to his chest. 

“You could fake your own death,” Nora offered helpfully. 

“And _then_ what?” Alex said miserably. “I can’t die and then have a brand new superhero magically appear who has the exact same power as the dead one!” 

“Fake his death then,” Nora said. 

“I was actually thinking about that,” Alex admitted. 

“Wait,” June said, and both Nora and Alex looked at her. She was looking at the body and holding a hand up, her brow furrowed like it always did when she was thinking. “What if, he _didn’t_ die,” she said. 

“Then we wouldn’t be here,” Alex said.

“No– shhh, let her talk,” Nora said, eyes on June, who slowly looked up. 

“What if we pretend he’s still alive,” June said, Alex furrowed his brows.

“Huh?”

“Think about it! If he dies now, some other villain will realize New York is free game and move in, then you’ll have to deal with someone else and the cycle will continue– _so,_ we fake this guy’s life and you keep fighting him,” June explained. Alex blinked. 

“Oh my god,” he whispered. 

“You’re a genius,” Nora said softly. 

“Wait, but then how am I going to fight myself?” Alex asked. 

June shrugged. “Actors?”

“I’d do it,” Nora said, both June and Alex looked at her, then at the body. 

“You guys aren’t that much different– body type wise,” Alex said, Nora made an offended face. 

“Are you saying I have good morals and small boobs?” she said. 

“Of course not babe,” June said, stroking Nora’s arm. 

“Ok wait, let me get this straight–” Alex started. 

“Better not,” June and Nora said at the same time, he ignored them. 

“We’re going to fake this guy’s life, and orchestrate fake fights between me and Nora so that other villains still think there’s someone in New York and then we can also control the damage and casualties which means we’ll basically be the best superheroes _ever?_ ” Alex said, looking between June and Nora. They all grinned. “This is the greatest idea ever, nothing could possibly–” 

“NO!”

“ _SHHH!_ ” Nora and June screeched, slapping hands over Alex’s mouth. “Are you trying to fucking jinx us? Chris Alex,” June hissed. Alex shrugged an apology. 

________

“Ok but I was serious about the twilight question, because if you were holding back it would make a lot of sense,” Nora said. She was sitting next to the not-fish tank with her legs crossed and a bag of Takis in her lap. She was crunching them noisily – probably on purpose. 

“ _Excuse me_ I’m–” Alex started indignantly, but then the door opened. He glared at her, and she shrugged unapologetically. 

“Ah, so you returned,” Nora said, pointing a Taki at Henry, who glanced between them. Alex was leaning against the not-fish tank, drinking a coffee and trying to review Nora’s decisions on the cases but she insisted she wasn’t going to tell him anything until Henry showed up. Luckily he was perfectly on time, looking just as posh as yesterday, but in a more casual light blue blazer and grey slacks. His tie was just as boring as yesterday also, this time a shiny periwinkle. Alex’s hand went to his own tie defensively, then he realized he’d forgotten to wear one – _again._

“It is my job…?” Henry said slowly. 

“Nora was betting we’d get a phone call that you wanted to quit, she was pretty sure it was going to be because of the not-fish tank,” Alex explained, and then pointed to the full coffee pot taking up the front desk. Nora refused to buy an actual coffee machine so she could get more sticky notes, but she did at least bring pots of self-warming coffee from her apartment. Henry poured himself a cup. 

“So, I decided on the cases, and ordered them, because you both are heathens who payed no attention to dates,” Nora said, rolling up the Takis bag and standing up to dig through the bag she’d left in her bean bag. 

“Sorry,” Henry offered, she waved him off, licking her fingers clean of the bright Takis powder and finally pulling the cases out. Each of them had sticky notes with different numbers on them, and Alex knew from experience he could expect her horrendous scrawl all over the insides of the files. 

“We have a meeting at 1:30 today without first client, but this guy will be our second. Henry, since you’re fresh meat and have the nicest accent – shut up Alex – you get phone duty. Make some appointments, I put their phone numbers on the front,” Nora said, handing the files over to Henry, who blinked but took them and looked around for a phone. 

“Oh, Nora doesn’t trust landlines, we use my phone usually,” Alex said, handing Henry his phone. Alex had long since given up his phone as a company phone, so there wasn’t anything incriminating or excessively embarrassing on it. 

“Right and, there’s only five clients now because one of them turned out to be guilty– that Arnold guy,” Nora added. Alex nodded but Henry frowned. 

“I checked him,” he said, and Nora flashed him a thumbs up. 

“Yeah he looks clean but he hasn’t paid taxes since 2007– since he’s only going in for minor theft, he’ll get out quick and it’ll be no biggie, but if we try to argue his case all the pross has to do is slam him with tax fraud, he’s not worth our time,” Nora explained. 

“‘Pross’?” Henry asked. 

“Prosecution, it’s a term because I say it is, argue with me and you’re banned from coffee,” Nora said, glaring at Henry for emphasis. “Clear?” she asked, Henry’s eyes looked a bit big. 

“Crystal,” he said. 

“Alright, so you’re on phone duty, Nora you do whatever it is you’re going to do–” 

“Already am.”

“–And _I_ am on brainstorm duty–” he glanced at Nora’s outfit; June’s Oxford hoodie and a pair of rainbow sweatpants, he sighed, “and walk-ins,” he added, Nora smiled. 

Nora disappeared into her office and Alex gave Henry the office so he could handle the phone calls. He plopped down into a bean bag – the blue one, obviously – and started reading through the file again.

The client was a man named Carson Carlyle. He was being charged with aggravated assault for robbing a convenience store with a gun. Except – the gun hadn’t had any bullets. The pross was still sticking to the potential violence plea, and since Carson already had two other felonies – shoplifting when he was younger and then assault – they were going to use the three strikes law, sentencing him to life in prison. 

Carson was 21 years old, three years yonger than Alex himself and Alex seen the three strikes law fuck over too many people in his life to let this case pass by. Nora had found the police reports from his two other convictions, but they hadn’t had many details. Alex figured if they could get the full story on the other two crimes, and then paint Carson sympathetically enough, they could get the pross to at least drop the potential violence plea. He’d still probably end up with a fine, maybe jailtime, but it wouldn’t be for life. 

Henry suddenly cleared his throat and startled Alex out of his own thoughts. Alex blinked up at him and then shook himself out. 

“Yeah? Sorry– got caught up,” he said, Henry nodded, but he didn’t seem to have noticed. Alex furrowed his brow as he realized Henry’s shoulders were set, with his hands clasped behind his back and his spine straight. He was also looking directly at Alex, which was a little intense. “Can I help you?”

“I made a meeting,” Henry started. 

“Uh, I hope so?” Alex said, confused. He leaned forward slightly, “are you alright?” 

“I mean– _damn– I mean,_ I finished making the meetings– all of them– and I put them on the calendar. However, one of the clients wasn’t able to come to the office, so I made the appointment in her apartment,” Henry explained, Alex opened his mouth but Henry rushed on before he could say anything. “Before you say anything– I did consider a phone appointment but I thought it would be more effective to meet with the client face to face rather than over the phone or electronically, and I am perfectly willing to be the one to go and meet her and you won’t have to waste company funds on travel expenses, but I thought this was the best decision,” he finished, nodding– mostly to himself, but still keeping his spine straight and eyes on Alex like he was waiting for him to argue. 

“Sounds good,” Alex said, Henry blinked, “Oh and uh–don’t worry, I need to get out of the office anyways, you don’t have to go alone and Nora will make sure to budget in our travel expenses– I mean, we’ll probably have to pay for our own coffee and she might make use buy her chips or something but–”

“'Sounds… _good?_ '” Henry asked slowly, Alex raised a brow. 

“Yeah man. If she’s not able to come in we still have to meet with her, and it sounds like you through it all the way through,” he breathed a light laugh, “what? You think we’re going to turn someone down because they can’t come in?” 

Henry’s shoulders completely relaxed and he folded his arms in front of himself. “Oh, right– yes, uh– of course,” he said, collapsing into the bean bag chair across from Alex he dragged a hand down his face. He kept his face covered, and then Alex realized his shoulders were shaking and for a moment of sheer panic he thought Henry was crying. 

“Uh–” he started, unsure of what to do, but then Henry’s hand dropped and he was smiling. Alex realized he was _laughing._ Henry threw back his head and laughed. It was a surprisingly deep laugh, like it came dredged up all the way from the bottom of his chest, and his face was lit up by the smile. Alex wasn’t sure if he should join or just keep staring– he wasn’t sure if he could stop staring even if he wanted to. There was something hypnotic about Henry laughing, but Alex didn’t know what it was. He decided to ignore the thought until he figured it out.

“Oh my fucking christ,” Henry whispered, once his laughter had died down. He sounded slightly winded and he was holding his sides. “I had this whole speech prepared– I was willing to quit! I had absolutely no idea you’d go and say _‘sounds good._ ’”

“Who the hell did you work for before this?” Alex asked, “I know we’re weird but I like to think we aren’t _that_ weird.” 

“My brother, a real… _gem,_ ” Henry said, dragging a hand through his hair. 

Alex rolled his eyes, “just say dickswab, I promise I won’t get offended,” he said, which coaxed another laugh out of Henry. 

“He is, it’s true,” Henry admitted, Alex grinned devilishly and leaned back in his chair, waving his hand. 

“Well?” he said, Henry’s brow knitted in confusion. “Go on, now I have to know all about your dickswab of a brother and his shitty law firm.”

“Well… for starters, it’s not even his really, rather my grandmother’s,” he said, watching Alex out of the side of his eye like he was sharing a secret. 

Alex scoffed dramatically, “what a pleb, he didn’t even start it on his own? Build it up from the ground and get a fish tank with no fish? Amateur.” 

“Also he has the _biggest_ stick up his arse,” he said, eyes widening for emphasis, Alex laughed. “He’s also the most petty individual I’ve had the displeasure of meeting. Once he wouldn’t let me take a case simply because he’d expected me to defend a perfectly guilty criminal and I’d refused,” the humor left Henry, and his eyes dropped to the floor. “I understand well enough that it was my job– and that’s why I quit. I couldn’t bring myself to– to– _gain_ some extraneous reputation by allowing people who deserved the brunt of criminal law to escape it.” he sighed, “maybe that’s just pretentious,” he said quietly.

“Guess what?” Alex said, and he waited until Henry dragged his eyes up to meet his before he went on, “if that’s your definition of pretentious then we’re all pretentious assholes,” he said with a grin. Henry stared at him. 

“Thank you Alex,” he said, Alex winked. 

“Anytime darling.” 

“CLIIIEEEENNTTTTT!” Nora screeched through her door. Henry jumped and Alex rolled his eyes as he got up and went for the door– grabbing his bag on the way. He hovered a hand over the door and looked back to Henry, who’d stood up and was smoothing his suit out. Their eyes met. 

“Ready?” Alex asked, Henry nodded and Alex grinned.

“We’ll be back!” he called to Nora, who didn’t bother answering, and then he and Henry were off. 

______

They showed up to the prison right on time, Alex leading them through the usual rigamarole until they were finally seated in the uncomfortable plastic chairs with a metal table between them and their client. 

Carson Carlyle looked a lot like his picture. He was long and skinny, with a shaved head and dark skin and eyes that wouldn’t stop flicking over the both of them like he expected them to lunge over the table at him. He was tense, with his arms crossed over his chest and his leg bouncing. 

“Mr. Carlyle, it’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m Alex Diaz and this is Henry Fox, we just wanted to review a couple things for you, but we’re hoping to help you out,” Alex introduced. He always shortened his name to either Claremont or Diaz since people did it for him anyways usually. He knew Henry had a longer name and he was pretty sure ‘Fox’ was his middle name and not his last name, but Henry had introduced himself in their meeting as Henry Fox so Alex was going with it. He figured Henry would tell him if he didn’t like it, or just correct him. 

Carson eyed them both, “Did my mom send you?” 

“She was the one to contact us,” Alex said, Carson nodded and sighed, standing up. 

“Then I don’t want you, I’ll do my time,” he said. Henry – surprisingly – was the one who jumped up and grabbed his arm. 

“They’re going to charge you with a life sentence,” he said, frowning in confusion, Carson hesitated for half a second and then shook off his arm. 

“And my mom’s going to pay for the both of you for the rest of her life, thank you both, but I’m fine with the supplied guy,” he said. 

“Listen, we can’t lower our price, it’s already been minimized, but we can work out a deal– she doesn’t have to pay it off immediately,” Alex bargained. 

“Why would you do that?” Carson asked, his eyes narrow. 

Alex shrugged, “I didn’t promise anything yet, but if you answer some questions with us I can work something out.”

Carson considered for a moment, then he let out a quick breath and sat back down, watching them expectantly. Alex and Henry shared a quick, triumphant look and then Alex shuffled through their file. They’d spent the subway ride over deciding which questions to ask him and decided that Alex would do most of the talking– at least for this first case. 

“You have two prior convictions, in order for them to be able to enact the third strike law one of those has to have been an assault charge, can you give us the details?” Alex asked. 

Carson sniffed, “yeah, I beat up my little sisters boyfriend, he didn’t like that much.” Alex nodded. 

“Why?” he asked. Carson watched him, like he was deciding something. 

“He pissed me off,” he said finally. 

“No, _why._ ” 

Carson shifted in his seat, “he just wasn’t a good dude alright, my sister’s sweet, she doesn’t know when to say no and this guy liked that.” 

Alex felt Henry tense beside him. 

“Did she press charges?” Henry asked. Alex could almost hear the gears in his brain turning. If they could prove Carson had been acting in defense of his sister it would be a huge boost in swaying the jury. 

“Nope, he had the money for some decent lawyers,” Carson said. 

“Why did you rob the convenience store?” Alex asked, making a note of Carson’s sister’s case as something for Nora to look into later. 

“The real reason, please,” Henry added. Carson looked between them, his leg stopped bouncin and his fist clenched like he was forcing himself to stop. 

“Rent, the heat bill always goes up in the winter, but my pay got cut at work.” 

Alex checked his watch, they only had ten minutes left so he closed the file and leaned forward over the table. 

“We’ll take your case, as well as give you and your mother a held charge, which means you’ll get a certain amount of time to organize before you have to start paying us off. If you agree, the first thing we’ll do is get you out of here, at least on house arrest. I know a guy who can get you a job you’ll be able to do from in the house. You’ll have to come in to our office so we can start talking about our strategy for your trial.” Alex gathered his files and bag and stood up, Henry jumped up as well and Carson watched them both. 

Alex held out his hand, “so, what do you say?” Alex asked. Carson had narrowed his eyes, but he was completely still. After a moment he stood up and took the hand Alex offered. 

“I’m in.”

_______

Alex whooped as soon as they were out of the building, bouncing on the balls of his feet and pumping his fists. 

“We have to figure out a way for his sister to testify, or at least get someone else to agree that the boyfriend deserved what he got and then we can–” Alex cut himself off and furrowed his brows when he realized that Henry wasn’t following him. He spun around and spotted him a couple feet away, standing still and staring with a weird expression on his face. “What are you doing?” Alex asked, Henry shook his head and breathed a laugh. Once he’d caught up Alex frowned at him, “why’d you stop?” 

Henry gave him another indecipherable look, “you know, it doesn’t look like it sometimes, but you’re surprisingly good at what you do,” he said, Alex laughed. 

“Thanks,” he said, bumping Henry’s shoulder with his own as they started walking again, “glad I was able to blow you away,” he added smugly, which made Henry scoff. 

“That’s putting it a bit kindly, I did say surprisingly _good,_ certainly not mind blowing,” he said with a teasing smile. 

Alex gasped, “how dare you,” he said, then raised a brow, “you better watch yourself Blondie, I’ll ship you right back to your absolutely fantastic brother,” he threatened. Henry laughed. 

They chatted about the case on the trip back, and then filled Nora in on what she’d missed. She immediately disappeared into her office to do some digging and when she came back had even more details–like the name of the boyfriend, Don. They all took a good five minutes to make fun of his name, especially when Nora pointed out he actually had three other sexual assault charges against him that had all been mysteriously dropped before they could go to court. Then Nora got chinese food and before Alex realized it they’d spent hours going over their game plan. 

Alex yawned and stretched out where he was sitting at his desk. They’d all migrated into Henry and Alex’s office, with the boys in their chairs and Nora sitting cross legged on the desk. She was slurping chow mein obnoxiously between single sentence comments on Henry and Alex’s planning. 

“We should call it a night,” Nora said, tossing the now empty takeout box into the garbage and climbing off the desk. Henry yawned and Alex nodded. 

“Probably for the best, if I have to read another word I may have to defend myself for murder,” Henry said, stretching out.

“Henry, please,” Alex started, “I would obviously defend you.”

“I’ll be sure to ring you when I’m next feeling homicidal.”

“Or call me and then never get caught,” Nora said, which made both Henry and Alex laugh, “just ask Alex he knows,” she added, and Alex’s throat went tight. 

“Alright, night y’all,” he said, and then hurried out of the room. He stopped by a corner store after he got off the subway, picking up a few shitty energy drinks so he’d be able to stay up for his rounds when his phone rang. 

“June’s in your apartment, she says it smells,” Nora said, Alex rolled his eyes and cracked open one of the cans. 

“Tell her I’m so glad I gave her a key,” he said, sipping the drink and grimacing at the sweetness. 

“Maybe next time I’ll jump through your window,” June’s voice said suddenly, Alex choked. 

“Nora how the hell did you get to my apartment before me?” 

“Hurry up,” was all she said and then the line went dead. Alex cursed her silently and shoved the doors to his apartment building open. He took the elevator, and struggled to hold his energy drink bag, open can, and keys to open the door. It ended up not mattering anyways since June and Nora had apparently left it unlocked. 

He paused right before he went inside, all the events of the past day catching up with him and making him feel a little light headed. 

_What the hell am I getting myself into?_ He thought, but then June shouted something about him stalling and he shook his head out. _Guess it’s too late to turn back now._

Unfortunately for Alex, however, this – was only the beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! you came back! XDD thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!!! Kudos/ comments are loved and goats WILL be scarified in your honor. Have a nice night everyone, and good luck to people suffering finals week with me XD <333

**Author's Note:**

> Ayeeee!!! Lemme know what you thought! Or just go "AHHHH!" in the comments I stg I'll love u forever. 
> 
> as always I'm [luci-cunt](https://luci-cunt.tumblr.com/) on tumblr, thanks for reading! <3333


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